Ubuntu 26.04 performs excellently in home use scenarios. Whether it’s printing documents, sharing files on a local network, syncing cloud storage, or accessing NAS devices, everything can be done with ease. This article provides detailed instructions for these common home needs.

Printer Setup

Ubuntu 26.04 manages printers through CUPS (Common Unix Printing System), and most USB and network printers work plug-and-play.

Automatic Detection & Installation

After connecting a USB printer to your computer, Ubuntu will usually detect and install the driver automatically. You can view recognized printers in “Settings > Printers”.

Manually Adding a Printer

If your printer is not detected automatically:

1. Open “Settings > Printers”
2. Click the “Add Printer” button
3. The system will search for available USB and network printers
4. Select your printer and follow the prompts to complete installation

Network Printer Configuration

For printers connected via WiFi or wired network:

# Install graphical printer configuration tool (more features)
sudo apt install system-config-printer

You can also use the CUPS web management interface:

1. Open http://localhost:631 in your browser
2. Click “Administration > Add Printer”
3. Select the network printer type and enter the address
4. Select the printer model and driver

Common Printer Brand Drivers

# HP printers (HPLIP recommended)
sudo apt install hplip hplip-gui
# Run HP Device Manager
hp-setup
 
# Epson printers
sudo apt install printer-driver-escpr printer-driver-escpr2
 
# Canon printers (download drivers from the official website)
# Brother printers (download driver installation scripts from the official website)
 
# Generic printer driver
sudo apt install printer-driver-gutenprint

Printing Operations

# Command-line printing
lp document.pdf
 
# Specify a printer
lp -d printer-name document.pdf
 
# Print multiple copies
lp -n 3 document.pdf
 
# Duplex printing
lp -o sides=two-sided-long-edge document.pdf
 
# View print queue
lpstat -p -d
 
# Cancel a print job
cancel job-id

Scanner Usage

If your multifunction printer has scanning capability:

# Install scanning tool
sudo apt install simple-scan
 
# Or install SANE command-line tools
sudo apt install sane-utils
 
# Detect scanners
scanimage -L
 
# Command-line scanning
scanimage --format=png > scan.png

Simple Scan provides a simple and intuitive scanning interface, supporting scanning to PDF or image formats.

File Sharing

LAN File Sharing (Samba)

Samba allows Ubuntu to share files with Windows and macOS devices on the local network.

Installing Samba

sudo apt install samba samba-common-bin

GUI Sharing (Easiest)

1. Right-click the folder you want to share in the file manager
2. Select “Local Network Share” or “Sharing Options”
3. Check “Share this folder”
4. Set the share name and permissions

If “Sharing Options” is not available, install:

sudo apt install nautilus-share
# Restart the file manager
nautilus -q

Command-Line Share Configuration

Edit the Samba configuration file:

sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

Add a share configuration at the end of the file:

[ShareName]
   path = /home/username/shared-directory
   browseable = yes
   writable = yes
   guest ok = no
   valid users = username

Set the Samba password and restart the service:

# Set Samba user password
sudo smbpasswd -a username
 
# Restart Samba service
sudo systemctl restart smbd nmbd

Accessing Shares on Other Devices

In the file manager:

1. Click “Other Locations” in the left sidebar
2. Enter smb://device-ip-address/ in the bottom address bar
3. Enter username and password
4. You can now browse and access shared files

Or enter smb://192.168.1.x/share-name directly in the address bar.

AirDrop Alternative (LocalSend)

For quickly transferring files between different devices (similar to AirDrop), LocalSend is recommended:

# Install via Flatpak
flatpak install flathub org.localsend.localsend_app

LocalSend supports file transfer between Linux, Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS over the local network, with no configuration required.

Cloud Storage

GNOME Online Accounts

Ubuntu 26.04 provides native cloud storage integration through GNOME Online Accounts:

1. Open “Settings > Online Accounts”
2. Select your service:
   • Nextcloud: Integrates files, calendar, contacts
   • Microsoft 365: Integrates calendar, mail, contacts
   • Google: Integrates Gmail, Calendar, contacts

After adding a Nextcloud or WebDAV account, its file storage automatically mounts in the file manager sidebar, where you can browse and operate on files just like local files.

rclone (Command-Line Cloud Storage Tool)

rclone is a powerful command-line cloud storage management tool supporting dozens of cloud storage services.

sudo apt install rclone

Configuring Cloud Storage

rclone config

Follow the interactive wizard to configure your cloud storage service (supports Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, and many more).

Common Operations

# List files in remote storage
rclone ls remote:path
 
# Sync local directory to cloud
rclone sync /local/directory remote:remote-directory
 
# Copy from cloud to local
rclone copy remote:remote-directory /local/directory
 
# Mount as a local directory
rclone mount remote:path /mnt/cloud --daemon
 
# View cloud storage usage
rclone about remote:

Nextcloud Desktop Client

If you use a Nextcloud private cloud:

sudo apt install nextcloud-desktop

The Nextcloud client provides:

• Automatic file synchronization
• Selective sync (only sync specific folders)
• File status icons (synced, syncing, not synced)
• System tray notifications

NAS Network Storage Access

Via File Manager

SMB/CIFS Protocol (Most Common)

Most home NAS devices (Synology, QNAP, etc.) support the SMB protocol:

1. Open the file manager
2. Click “Other Locations”
3. Enter smb://NAS-IP-address/ in the bottom address bar
4. Enter your NAS username and password
5. Browse shared folders

NFS Protocol

# Install NFS client
sudo apt install nfs-common
 
# Create mount point
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/nas
 
# Temporary mount
sudo mount -t nfs NAS-IP-address:/share-path /mnt/nas

Permanent NAS Mount

SMB/CIFS Permanent Mount

Create a credentials file (secure password storage):

sudo nano /etc/samba/credentials

username=your-NAS-username
password=your-NAS-password

Set permissions:

sudo chmod 600 /etc/samba/credentials

Edit /etc/fstab to add the mount entry:

sudo nano /etc/fstab

//NAS-IP/share-name /mnt/nas cifs credentials=/etc/samba/credentials,uid=1000,gid=1000,iocharset=utf8 0 0

Install CIFS tools and mount:

sudo apt install cifs-utils
sudo mount -a

NFS Permanent Mount

Add to /etc/fstab:

NAS-IP:/share-path /mnt/nas nfs defaults,_netdev 0 0

WebDAV Access

Some NAS devices and cloud services support the WebDAV protocol:

Enter in the file manager address bar:

davs://NAS-address:port/path

NAS-Specific Applications

Synology

Synology users can access the DSM management interface via a web browser, and can also:

• Use the Synology Drive client to sync files
• Access via SMB directly in the file manager
• Use Synology Photos and other mobile apps

QNAP

QNAP users can manage their NAS through the QTS web interface. File access methods are similar to Synology.

NAS Performance Optimization

# SMB mount optimization parameters
//NAS-IP/share /mnt/nas cifs credentials=/etc/samba/credentials,uid=1000,vers=3.0,cache=loose,rsize=130048,wsize=130048 0 0

• vers=3.0: Use SMB 3.0 protocol for better performance
• cache=loose: Use loose caching for faster reads
• rsize/wsize: Adjust read/write buffer sizes

Home Media Center

If you want to use Ubuntu as a home media server:

# Install Plex Media Server (download the .deb package from the official site)
# Or install Jellyfin (open-source alternative)
sudo apt install jellyfin

Jellyfin is a completely free and open-source media server that supports:

• Media library management with automatic metadata scraping
• Multi-device streaming playback
• User permission management
• Automatic subtitle downloading

Summary

Ubuntu 26.04 provides comprehensive support for home use scenarios. Printer setup is straightforward, with most devices working plug-and-play. Samba file sharing enables seamless collaboration between Ubuntu and Windows/macOS devices. Through GNOME Online Accounts and rclone, cloud storage access is very convenient. NAS users can browse network storage directly in the file manager or configure permanent mounts for automatic connection at boot.